1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for assembling a wire harness and an apparatus for carrying the method and more particularly to a method suitable for assembling the wire harness for use in an automobile comprising wires, bent at many points, consisting of main wires serving as a main line and to be connected with a connector terminal at both ends thereof and a plurality of branch wires formed by bending the main wire and a jig suitable, for forming branch wires from the main wires, to be used in carrying out the method and a jig suitable for accommodating a connector to be connected with the branch wires.
2. Description of the Related Arts
According to methods for automatically assembling a wire harness proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publications No. 57-95016, No. 57-25612, and No. 59-217976, one end of an electric wire (E) introduced from a reel is connected with a connector 1A and the other end thereof is connected with a connector 1B as shown in FIGS. 12 and 14.
In automatically assembling the wire harness having a plurality of wire groups 3A, 3B, and 3C and wires branched therefrom, wires are pulled out from the reel and moved forward to each predetermined position with branch connectors 4A, 4B, and 4C connected with the forward end of each of the wire groups 3A, 3B, and 3C. Then, the wire groups 3A, 3B, and 3C are connected with a gathering connector 5. When the wire groups 3A, 3B, and 3C reach a predetermined position, respectively due to the forward movement of the gathering connector 5, branch connectors 6A and 6B are mounted on the backward end thereof.
According to the conventional method for automatically assembling the wire harness having main wires and branch wires, the wires are not branched from a required position thereof, but a part of a plurality of wire groups is connected with the gathering connector at one end thereof. For example, it is necessary to unwind all required wires in parallel with each other from the reel so as to obtain branch wire groups and consequently, there are many wires arranged in parallel with each other. Therefore, the wire harness occupies a large space in an automobile and may not be installed in a small area. The number of terminals to be mounted on wires increases with the increase of the number of wires, which necessitates the provision of a large connector for accommodating the terminals. Thus, the increase of parts and the use of the large connector inturn increases the cost and labor. According to the conventional method, it is necessary to move each branch wire group forward or stop it to place it in position. Consequently, the assembling operation is complicated and therefore, an assembling apparatus is complicated and large.
As described above, the conventional method has many problems. In automatically assembling the wire harness for use in an automobile, it is necessary to obtain many branch wires from the main wires. Thus, it is difficult for the conventional method to automatically assemble the wire harness.